The Latest: Lowry shoots 68 to move out of the cellar at PGA

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The Latest on the PGA Championship on Saturday (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

Shane Lowry has moved out of the cellar at the PGA Championship with a 68 in the third round.

The 2016 U.S. Open runner-up was one of the first players to tee off on Saturday morning, just making the 36-hole cut at 4-over par. He is still 14 strokes behind runaway leader Brooks Koepka, but Lowry went 2 under and is in the clubhouse at 2 over for the tournament.

Adam Long and Rory McIlroy were also 2 under on the day and still out on the course for the third round. McIlroy had an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole.

——

12:25 p.m.

J.T. Poston is making the best of an unexpected chance to play in the PGA Championship.

The 25-year-old from St. Simons Island, Georgia, didn’t find out until Tuesday morning he got into the field as an alternate after Vijay Singh withdrew because of a back injury.

Poston took a flight from Jacksonville, Florida, that day. He played nine holes at Bethpage Black that afternoon and another nine on Wednesday to learn the course. The hardest thing was to find a room, and he barely did.

After an opening-round 77, Poston made the cut by shooting 10 shots better on Friday. He added a third-round 71 to finish at 5 over.

“We’ve been scrambling a little bit,” said Poston, who has two top-10 finishes this year.

This is his second major. He played in the U.S. Open in 2017 and missed the cut.

——

11 a.m.

Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth have a recent history playing together in a major, but not a long one.

They were in the same group for the opening two rounds of the Masters last month, and at the 2017 PGA Championship, with Koepka finishing each of those four rounds higher on the leaderboard.

They are in the final group at the PGA Championship, with Koepka seven shots ahead at 12-under par.

Oddly enough, it was more than six years ago when Koepka and Spieth were in the second stage of Q-school needing to advance to earn at least limited status on one of the PGA Tour circuits. They shot the same score on the same course and missed out by three shots.

That’s when they went their different ways.

Spieth received a few sponsor exemptions, earned PGA Tour status within three months and won the John Deere Classic in 2013. Koepka went overseas to play the Challenge Tour, winning four times but taking two years to get a PGA Tour card.

——

10:30 a.m.

Brooks Koepka has turned a public golf course into his private domain at the PGA Championship.

Along with setting the 36-hole scoring record in major championships, Koepka has opened a seven-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott going into the third round at Bethpage Black.

He has made only two bogeys all week. Koepka has been alone in the lead since his 12-foot birdie putt on his 12th hole of the opening round.

Among those playing early Saturday in the third round was Rory McIlroy, who had to rally to make the cut. McIlroy made eagle on the par-5 fourth hole.

Koepka was in the final group with Spieth, who hasn’t been in the last group at any tournament since the final round of the British Open last summer.